It is very often desired to place displays, such as advertisement, news, TV, video displays on building surfaces such that the display could be seen by many people. Such displays are typically constructed as a large electronic TV screen comprising a number of light emitting pixels, such as LCD or LED screens, or constructed by projecting the image onto the surface of the building. The known displays are therefore placed directly on the building surface and when used outside sensitive to the weather conditions, because their electronic circuits for instance can be damaged by rain, snow or wind and further dust and sand could also damage the displays. It is thus very important to protect these displays against the weather conditions and dust. Another issue is the fact that it is very difficult to integrate the known kind of displays with the building structure in a discreet way such that the display and building structure would appear as one unit. LED screens are today build into walls but are not considered as a natural part of the building when turned on and not even when they are turned off. In some applications it is further desired to integrate/place large displays on surfaces such as floors, pavements, roads and other surfaces in floor/street level but this is not possible with the existing technologies due to the fact that the existing displays easily could be damaged when positioned in these kinds of surfaces
One attempt to provide illuminating surfaces relies on wiring that must be embedded into a surface topping, such as asphalt or concrete, as the topping is applied. Cavities must be cut into the surface topping so that the wiring can be connected to a light producing assemblage that must be fitted into each cavity. This type of system use a soft, plastic-like material placed over the light elements through which the light can emanate, but this approach suffers from the same limitations of poor durability.
All of the present known attempts to provide for a self-illuminating fabricated solid present problems that include solids that require chambers, grooves, channels, pockets or panels of significant size for housing a light bulb or other light source from which light is emitted through a soft material located on the top surface of the solid. Additionally, none of these devices provide for an illuminating fabricated solid object, such as a paving block or stepping stone that has the strength, versatility and functionality of a concrete block or stepping stone, that provides for a lighted surface that includes various colors, patterns, or designs of light which may cover either part or the entire surface of the block or stone, where the light source means may be directly connected to the solid, or, alternatively, where the light source may be indirectly connected to the solid, by way of a fiber optic cable, for example, to provide for a plurality of solid objects to receive light from just one or a few light source means, and where the light source means, the color of the light, and the design that is displayed on a visible surface can be changed or replaced easily and rapidly without having to replace the entire object.
WO 03083810 A1 describes a luminous solidified structure which has a light emitting diode lamp fixed by solidification of cement and silica particles. Meanwhile, the rods are not held together by a backbone that connects the base ends of the rods to achieve an array of rods.
In view of the foregoing, it is desirable to provide a display system integrateable into building structures for displaying images while maintaining the strength and durability expected from comparable non-illuminating building structures, and that can do so at low cost while being attractive in appearance, versatile, functional and durable. It is an object to achieve a simple single unit containing the rods and the building materials—but no electronic parts